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28 March 2016

Training on overcoming stereotypes started in Sievierodonetsk

Training on non-discrimination and project management for teachers began in Severodonetsk, supported by the UN Development Programme in Ukraine (UNDP).

Today a four-day training workshop commenced, with a title "Project Management: practical application skills on examples of projects on learning activities about tolerance and peacebuilding". The request for a training on the topic of project management for schools and after-school institutions came from the Severodonetsk City Center for Children and Teenagers in cooperation with the City Department of Education. The initiative was supported by Ganna Borova, UNDP advisor on reconciliation and social cohesion in Severodonetsk.

First day of the training was devoted to learning about the topics of tolerance, non-discrimination and overcoming stereotypes. Teachers had an opportunity to inspect their own identity, use their own examples to understand better how many social roles we all play in real life. Such awareness allowed participants to better understand the concept of stereotypical judgments. Often people do not hesitate to judge others on the basis of one characteristic without analyzing all the roles performed by a person. For example, we can judge the person based only on his / her nationality, despite the fact that he / she is a good engineer, athlete and volunteer. Such a narrow understanding of each other often results in conflicts and discrimination.

During interactive exercises, teachers developed their sense of empathy and appreciation of diversity, making conclusions how it is important for the local community, which accepted a large number of internally displaced persons, including school children.

The first training day was about the content of future projects and concluded with the development of future project ideas on building and strengthening of understanding and tolerance in the local environment.

First day of the training was facilitated by Nataliya Datchenko, expert at the Agency for sustainable development of the Lugansk region, who lives and works in Lviv. Nataliya who is also a volunteer at the Reloading Donbas Initiative made a surprise for the participants and presented a video message from students of Lviv to their peers in Sievierodonetsk, which can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/5Y-9jANGEfo

Participants gave positive feedback on the first training day and indicated that they gained a valuable experience and look forward to the next day of training. It will focus on developing project proposals and will be conducted by Ganna Borova.